We awoke nice and toasty in our large lodge room. Outside we had to dry our very dewy bikes off before we could pack our stuff and get going. We arranged to meet David at a funky, old wooden cafe (and lodge) for breakfast, so we showed up there at the same time as him and had a nice meal. Big Sur is a very quaint, upmarket and insanely expensive little pocket of the coastline with dramatic cliffs and I imagine a holiday destination for the likes of Silicon Valley. After food we said our farewells and got going.
We rode to the end of the road, as far as you could go to where it was closed due to the flood washout / landslide.
We then backtracked and took the Naciamento ridge road, which was a very narrow twisty paved road up the mountains. This would have been nice if there weren’t so many cars on it who struggled with the narrow turns, didn’t stay in their lane and made it a bit scary. Still a beautiful road and once we had climbed the hills it levelled off and got a tad wider.
We decided to stop at the San Antonio Mission (read: Catholic Church settlement) which was on a US Military base land. This still looked the same as when it was built in the late 1800’s, and it was nice to wander around the old settlement and relics from when the Catholics(Spaniards) had hundreds of Indians living there in the hopes of ‘civilising’ them. Very Mediterranean with old Olive trees dotted around.
From there we carried on passed the military base, shooting and training ranges until we got back into towns, then on a highway to the coast. We stopped in Cambria where Tanguy found a cheap room at Motel 6. We picked up some delicious food at an organic market for dinner/breakfast and spent the evening in our room with good food.
Zoe
You made a fast-backwards between days 218 and 119, or did I miss something here?
From free campsites to insanely expensive is somewhat scary as a re-entry in “civilized” areas.
But the Silicon Valley guys need a holiday place as well, something for everyone!
Nice roads with too much traffic ain’t so nice anymore, but I’m sure Uncle Google will guide you to lesser traveled paths, further South.
Baci – the Principality is OK!
OOOps my comment disappeared!
Super nice sea-views and a lovely mission worth visiting.
Being the last diary publication of a long route of 40.000 KM with both your BMW beemers over 8 1/2 months we will be missing your stories !!!
It’s strange how every morning (and even during my sleepless nights…) dad and I got addicted to your awesome and lovely pictures and stories. We enjoyed it 100%
You both are now experienced ***** Bikers !
Time for picking up slowly with real life ?
Hope to see you soon here during the winter festivities !
Love Mum